General Chat

Two books as usual. As it is not due to go up until tomorrow the vote will not be earlier than tomorrow PM.

Time’s Legacy Barbara Erskine
Ancient secrets buried deep in Glastonbury’s past. One woman’s quest finally
To set them free.

Cambridge, present day: Following the death of her mother Abi Rutherford receives a mysterious bequest – a misshapen crystal sphere known as the serpent’s stone, which seems to give her glimpses of concealed mysteries, long covered up by the church.
Western England 25AD: A stranger has come to the chilly Somerset wetlands, with a story of hope and reconciliation. But he is being followed by powerful forces, determined that he will not undermine Roman rule in Britain.
Abi questions what connects these ancient events and her gift. And why so many people seem desperate to hide the truth?

A strange shadow has fallen across the centuries and a woman is in fear of her life. But is it danger that awaits her, or the final truth so long whispered across the echoes of time.

The Distant Hours Kate Morton
It started with a letter
Edie Birchall and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.
Evacuated from London as a thirteen year old girl. Edie’s mother was chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe and taken to live at Milderhurst castle with the Blythe family.
50 years later Edie too is drawn to the castle and the eccentric sisters Blythe. Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancé in 1941 plunged her into madness.
Inside the decaying castle Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst castle and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.

I have had a recommendation from somebody who is not in greaders. I am putting it here so that it can go into the vote as it might appeal to some people. This is not my recommendation, mine are already on here.


I would highly recommend Shadow by Michael Morpergo. It is in its essence a children's book and has recently been voted by children around the country and made No 1 in the red house book awards. Although, I do say it is a childrens book - adults will also enjoy reading for it's poignancy and readers of all ages can symathise and so to a degree show empathy. It storyline being up-to-date entices the reader in til they have a fuller understanding of its worth - knowing these things happen is one thing realising the reality of them is another. Morpego has a way of telling the story though the eyes of an animal. This book differs in the respect that the animal really IS the story.

My suggestions are -
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

In this darkly comic novel set in modern day India, Balram, A chauffeur, murders his emoloyer, justifing his crime as an act of a "social entrepreneur".
In a series of letters to the Premier of China, in anticipation of the leader's visit to Balram's homeland, the cahaffeur recounts his transformation from an honest, hardworking boy, growing up in "the Darkness" - those rural areas of India where education and electricity are equally scarce - to a determined killer.

He places the blame for his rage squarley on the avarice of the Indian elite, among whom bribes are commonplace, and who perpetuate a system in which many are scrificed to the whims of a few.
The message isn't subtle or novel, but Balram's appealingly sardonic voice and acute observations of the social order are both winning and unsettling.

My second suggestion is -
The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale

It is 1752, and Agnes Trussel is assistant to one John Blacklock, maker of fireworks. A spectacular fashion for rockets, portfires and fiery rain has gripped the great and the god of London.

uick-tempered, secrative and handsome, Blackloick, a widower, has taken on the seventeen-year-old counrty girl into his household on her arrival in the city. She is without plans or friends- and burdened with dangerous secrets: she is pregnant, unmarried, and a thief who has run away from her family in rural Sussex.

As her feelings for Blacklock grow so does her hnowledge of the strange alchemy of fire. But her swelling belly and the sly insinuations of the housekeeper Mrs Blight eat away at her pleasure in her newfound skill.
When will her master notice her condition? And what future, really, can there be for a girl like her?

My suggestions are

Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
Meet Dexter Morgan. He's a highly respected lab technician specializing in blood spatter for the Miami Dade Police Department. He's a handsome, though reluctant, ladies' man. He's polite, says all the right things, and rarely calls attention to himself. He's also a sociopathic serial killer whose "Dark Passenger" drives him to commit the occasional dismemberment.
Mind you, Dexter's the good guy in this story.

The Secret of Crickley Hall by James Herbert
Would you stay in a haunted house for more than one night?
Would you live in a place where ghostly things keep happening? Where a cellar door you know you locked the night before is always open the following morning? Where hushed whimpering is heard? Where white shadows steal through the darkness? Where the presence of evil is all around you?
Would you? Should you?
The Caleighs did, but they had their reasons. They should have known better though. As the terror mounts, they begin to regret their decision. As the horror rises, they realize their very lives are at risk....and so is their sanity. For the secret of Crickley Hall is beyond all nightmares.

First choice:

Happenstance By Carol Shields....

Happenstance takes the form of two companion novels, each telling the story of the same five days in the lives of Jack & Brenda. In twenty years of marriage they have hardly been apart, then Brenda who has a talent as a quiltmaker is invited, to spend a week at a craft convention. It is her first trip away, she feels vulnerable yet adventurous. She makes new friends, fends off the amorous advances of a handsome metallurgist and is coming to terms with her celebrity status as a prize winning craftswoman. As the week progresses all sorts of emotions that have unsettled her for years - are brought into focus.

Meanwhile back in Chicago Jack faces a crisis of a very different sort, he is left alone to cope with the two adolescent children. In the space of one turbulent week Jack's world falls apart. His neighbour attempts suicide, a friend's marriage breaks down. Jack's secretary starts making bizarre sexual confessions and he discovers to his horror that is major career project is jeopardiesed by an ex-lover writing an identical volume

Meanwhile, Brenda seems to be having the time of her life.

Both stories are funny... they are back to back in the one book.

Marie Claire: said: This is a tender, lovely book, about peope who need each other and it is superbly told.

Persie

Will go and copy from my review on the other thread now.

My other book

The Ice Cream Girls by Dorothy Koomson

I voted for this one so thought I better read it. I had got it out of the library once before because I had enjoyed Marshmallows for Breakfast (not me eating them) by the same author but did not have time to get into it. Well this book is nothing like the Marshmallows one... the candy has a lot harder bite...The story goes: Poppy got sent to jail for murdering her lover/tutor, but he was not just her lover/tutor he was also Serena's lover/tutor. They were both there when the stabbing took place and Serena thought that she would go down as well. The Jury believed her story and she got off. So Poppy aims to clear her name when she is released. Meanwhile Serena has become married to a medical practioner and has two children - a teenage daughter, and a young son that will say anything at anytime.
Serena's parents and her sisters believe she didn't commit the murder..but do they really.. Her husband knows nothing and Poppy uses this as a threat over Serena. Evan, Serena's husband does find out from a patient of his and so Serena has to deal with this as well as her family and Poppy. Poppy thinks it will be simply a case of getting Serena to admit she did it and then she will be given a pardon. But it isn't that simple. Poppy's father cannot even bring himself to talk to his daughter and her mother takes awhile but eventually does talk with her... but is it all she wants to hear. Her parents have caused her to lose contact with her younger siblings.
In the meantime Poppy has also fallen for someone but he is also not all he seems to be. I am not going to tell you the outcome.. I will tell you this though this sort of thing does happen... and probably more often than we realise.

Above is my review from the other thread but also my suggestion for this month.

ooh some good ones so far.

Fallen Gods by Quintin Jardine

When a body is found after a flood, the secrets of a tempestuous life surface with it. Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner has kept the existence of his hated brother Michael hidden for years. As he relives their past conflict, other demons threaten his future. For not only are his professional enemies circling, but Sarah, his wife, seems set on a course for calamity. Meanwhile, in an Edinburgh art gallery, his team confront a shocking and very public case of arson. Was it a political protest, or something much deeper?


The Husband by Dean Koontz

Mitch Rafferty has just sixty hours to save his wife.A suspense novel

Any more suggestions? I think it is just Greenfingers, Pammy and Helen to come now.

Have to wait now, neither Helen or Pammy have opened their Pms and Greenfingers (Janet needs to change Ice Cream Girls as Perse has already suggested it. So looks like the vote wont start today.

This is just to say the vote will be 5pm uk time today whether Pammy or Helen have posted suggestions or not. The date is given for review/suggestions when the vote result goes on the board so everyone should have it on their calendar. I have sent out PMs so there is no more I can or should have to do.

Sorry that I haven't posted a suggestion but our comps have all been playing games with us, very inconsiderate of them!

I will look to see which book is chosen and then download if I can or see if anyone here has the book.

11.01hrs Spain

I will be late voting can't see me getting up at 4am to vote LOL...

There is still time for you to add if you wish Bridget.

Perse. Don't worry about it, Mybe they will respond before you go to bed. fingers crossed. Just checked, Helen has opened her message but Pammy hasn't. Green fingers has not opened her message asking her to change one of her books either.

Phew! Just back from my daughter's brand new home where there is as yet no BT line and therefore no internet.

'The Game" by A.S.Byatt.

Cassandra is an Oxford don; Julia, her sister, a best-selling novelist. They share a set of disturbing memories of a strange childhood game and of Simon, the handsome young neighbour who loved them both. Years later Simon re-enters their lives via a TV programme and intrudes into their uneasy compromise of mutual antagonism and mistrust. The old emotions surge back and this time the game is played out to a fatal finish.

"Who Killed Karen Silkwood?" by Howard Kohn

(You may have seen the film with Meryl Streep)

Karen Silkwood worked in Kerr-McGee's plutonium factory in Crescent, Oklahoma, in the early 1970s. As the plant was poorly managed and safety violations were rampant, Silkwood became involved with her local union in hopes of improving the situation. She was quickly recruited as a spy for the 5-283, attempting to gather evidence that her superiors at K-M were knowingly selling defective fuel rods. During this time she was contaminated with plutonium on a number of occasions, under suspicious circumstances. The night she was to hand over her documents to a reporter from the New York Times, she died in a car crash. Though the case was handed over to the FBI, it never received an adequate investigation. Only when Silkwood's estate sued civilly was a thorough inquest conducted.

You may have to go ahead without me, but that's OK by me. I have been looking in all day and now on my way to bed. Your 5pm is 2am for me.
Goodnight all.

You will be able to vote tomorrow Berona, I will hold it for you, Perse and Michelle. It is annoying but I am still waiting for Pammy and for Greenfinger to change hers.